Air-operated press



June 7, 1960 L. N. STRIKE ETAL 2,939,231

AIR-OPERATED PRESS Filed Dec. 31, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 --a4 40 20 -5 I I :2

INVENTORS LOU/5 N. STE/K5 0770 H. p'ARSO/V ATTORNEY United States Patent AIR-OPERATED PRESS Louis N. Strike and Otto H. Pearson, Salt Lake City, Utah, assignors to The American Laundry Machinery Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Dec. 31, 1956, Ser. No. 631,603

4 Claims. (CI. 38-41) This invention relates to a pressing machine that uses compressed air to move the press head toward and from the buck thereof, the present press being generally of the type used in dry cleaning establishments for pressing garments of various kinds.

Prior presses of the above and comparable design and utilizing air-pressure means for the dual purpose of moving the head to pressing position and applying pressing pressure to said head had the great disadvantage of using an unnecessarily high pressure for moving the head, which is ordinarily balanced for easy movement. Moreover, such high pressure presented a hazard to the hands of the operator or to anything of material thickness that accidentally became interposed between the buck and the closing head. Accordingly, this invention is characterized by both economy of operating fluid, in this case, compressed air, and safety, in that the head is closed over the buck by safe low pressure and, only after such closing, may the higher pressing pressure be applied. It is an object of the present invention to provide an airoperated press having the properties hereinabove set forth.

In the further interest of safety and to prevent closing of the press head over the buck by high pressure, the invention contemplates so arranging the head-carrying means and the high pressure unit that inadvertent supply of high pressure to said unit will be ineflective to move the head or, if the head is already started toward pressing position, be efiective to return the head to open condition.

It is a further object of the invention to provide means, as indicated, insuring application of high pressure except when the head is in closed or nearly closed position.

The invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a Working position and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description. However, the drawings merely show and the following description merely describes, one embodiment of the present invention, which is given by way of illustration or example only.

In the drawings, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of an air-operated press embodying the features of the present invention and shown in open or non-operating position.

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the press in closed or pressing position.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side view of an operating valve to control the high pressure of the press.

The press that is illustrated, in a generally conventiona1 manner, comprises a base frame 5 that supports a work table 6 and a preferably padded buck 7 on which garments to be pressed are adapted to be placed. Said buck is usually disposed at the front of the machine above the work table and the same has a horizontal,

2,939,231 Patented June 7, 1960 longitudinal disposition, in the manner shown and is fixedly carried by a column 8 extending from a support wall 9 on the base frame.

A press head 10 is arranged to have pressing engagement with the buck 7 and the same is carried by a pressure arm 11 that is carried by frame 5 on a pivot bearing 12. As shown, said arm 11 is formed as a lever of the first class and having arm portions of unequal length. The longer arm portion 13 carries the press head by means of a universal suspension 14 that allows said head to adjust to the buck 7, when brought to pressing position. The shorter arm portion 15 has a generally vertical disposition, when the arm is raised, and a rearward and downward position when the arm is in pressing position. The arm movement is controlled from said shorter arm portion.

It is usual, in ordinary air-operated presses, to apply power to said shorter arm 15 to both raise and lower the press head and apply pressing pressure with the same means that moves the press head.

The means for operating the head and applying pres sure thereof according to the present invention comprises, generally, a low pressure cylinder-piston unit 16 interconnecting the base :frame 5 and so disposed that, when contracted, said unit holds the arm 11 and press head 10 raised and, when extended, holds said arm and head in lowered pressing position, a valve 17 controlling said unit, an air pressure line 18 directly feeding said valve, control means 19, under pedal or manual control of the operator of the machine, a valve 20 operated by the means 19 and in direct connection with said air line 18, means 21 to interconnect the valves 17 and 20 so that the latter operates the former, a high pressure cylinderpiston unit 22 also interconnecting the base frame and the arm portion 15, a valve 23 controlling unit 22, a valve 24 carried by the frame, an air, pressure line 25 directly feeding valve 24, a line 26 connecting the valves 23 and 24 to supply air pressure to the former when the latter is opened, control means 27 for valve 23 and interconnecting saidvalve and an intermediate portion of the unit 16 to receive the pressure from line 18 when said unit is ex tended, and means 28 to control valve 24 from a positio at the front of the machine.

The unit 16 comprises a cylinder 30 carried from the frame 5 as on a pivot 31, a piston 32 operable in said cylinder and provided with a stem 33 that is pivotally connected at 34 to the free end of the arm portion 15 of arm 11. Said unit 16 is normally contracted as in Fig. l, the arm 11 being raised to press head elevating position by counter-balancing springs 35. It will be clear that unit 16 constitutes the control or actuating means for arm 11 and, therefore, of the raised and operative position of the press head. It will be noted that the cylinder 30 is of small area to have a relatively low total pressure that need only be sufiicient to overcome the counter-balancing force of springs 35 to enable moving the head 10' in a direction toward the buck 7. Since the net force between said head and buck is relatively low, the safety feature, herein contemplated, is efit'ective as the head gently achieves contact with the buck.

The valve 17 is normally closed so that air pressure from line 18 may be conducted thereto by a line 36 and blocked until the valve is opened. The line 18 is supplied from a suitable source 37, as from a tank or compressor.

The control means 19 is shown as operating the valve 20 which is fed by line 18, the valve being normally closed to block the flow in said line. The operator of the machine may open said valve 20 either by a foot pedal 39 or a manual control bar 40 which are each adapted to move an actuator 41 to open said valve. The valve is self-closing when the pedal and control bar are released by the operator.

The means 2 1 receives the pressure of line 18, when valve 20 is open, the same comprising a 1ine42 in which said pressure flows and a diaphragm 43that is activated by the pressure in line '42 and moves the valve 17 to open position so that the air pressure in line 36 may pass to the connection 44 and thence into cylinder 30 to press piston 32 outwardly and extend stem 33. When valve 17 is closed to such pressure inlet flow, the same vents cylinder 30 as through a vent muffier 45.

By holding valve 20 open, the arm 11 is held in descended position with the press head engaged over the buck 7 under the light pressure that is applied in cylinder 30.

The unit 22 comprises a cylinder 46 substantially larger in area than cylinder 30, the same being carried by frame 5, as'on'a pivot 47 and having a pressure-extensible stem 48 that, by a clevis 49, connects to the free end of arm portion 15. raised position, the piston 48 is so directed as to bias the arms to an open position. This condition is shown in Fig. l and it will be clear that accidental or inadvertent supply of pressure to unit '46 would be ineffective to move the press head toward thebuck. On the contrary, the direction of force of stem 48'is such as to bias the arm 11 to open or raised position, the same being due to the fact that stem 48 is directed along a line between the buck '7 'andpivot 12. However, when the head is engaged with the'buck or, at least, quite close to the buck, the arm portion 15 moves past the dead-center position and the stem 48 is directed along a line passing beyond pivot 12 on the side away from the buck. Consequently extension of unit 22 applies the force of the same to the head, the force being greater than that applied by unit 16 in proportion to the areal sizes of said units.

The valve 23 is normally closed and the unit 22 remains in the contracted position until said valve is opened. Valve 24 receives air pressure from the source 37 and, when opened, said pressure passes into line 26 which connects valves 23 and 24. Thus, only when both said valves are open will air pressure reach cylinder 46 through connection 50, the air flow being from the source 37, through line 25, valve 24, line '26, valve 23, and connection '50 to cylinder 46.

The control means 27 opens valve 23, said means comprising a port connection 51 for a line 52 and a diaphragm 53 activated by pressure in line 52 to move valve 23 to open positionl By placing the port 51 in such position that the same is uncovered by piston 32 as the unit 16 extends, the pressure supplied by line 18 flows in line 52 to open valve 23.

The means 28 enables operation of the unit 22 by opening valve 24. Said means is shown as a valve-opener spring '54, an actuator 55 on a bracket 56 which also carries valve 24, a link 57 connected at one end to the actuator 55 and extending toward the head portion of the machine, and an actuating handle '58 carried by the arm portion 13 and connected to the other end of the machine.

As can be seen from Fig. 2, when the head '10 is at or near pressing position and valve 23 is held open by the pressure from line 18, that depression of handle 58 will open valve 24 to establish flow of pressure air into cylinder '46, thereby creating a high pressure, as needed for a pressing operation.

With pedal 39 and handle '58 both depressed, the head is retained in pressing position so that heat and steam supplied to both the buck and the head may be utilized to efiect a pressing operation in garments made of the heavier fabrics, such as woolens. By releasing said pedal and handle, both valves 17 and 23 move to closed posi- It will be noted that, with the arm 11 in.

of the invention.

f and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

.tion and the same vent their respective cylinders 30 and '46. Consequently, the press head will return to raised position under the gentle control of the weight-biasing springs 35.

The various lines are shown semi-diagrammatically and it will be understood that where required, the same may comprise flexible hose or the like to yield to the movement of the press parts between open and pressing positions. 7

While the foregoing has illustrated and described what is now contemplated to be the best mode of carrying out our invention, the construction is, of course, subject to modification without departing from the spirit and scope It is, therefore, not desired to restrict the invention to the particular-form of construction illustrated and described, but to cover all modifications that may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim 1. In an air-operated pressing machine having two pressing members one of which is movable toward and from the other, means operated by compressed air to move said movable member toward the other member,

; similar and more powerful means operated by compressed air to apply pressing pressure to the movable member substantially when the two members attain pressing engagement, said more powerful means being so disposed,

when the pressing members are in separated relation, as to apply its force in a direction to bias the movable pressing member toward open position, means controlled ond air-operated means. I

.2. In an air-operated pressing machine according to claim 1, means normally biasing the movable pressing member in a direction to separate the pressing members.

3. In an air-operated pressing machine having two pressing members one of which is movable towardand from the other, a compressed air-operated device directly connected to the movable member to move the same toward the other member, a normally-closed valve controlling flow of compressed air to said device, a source of compressed air connected directly to said valve, a manual controller connected to said source and controlling the operation of said valve, a second compressed air-operated device directly connected to the movable pressing member to move the same toward the other pressing member only when said pressing members are in proximity, said second device, when the pressing members are normally spaced apart, being adapted to maintain the pressing members separated, a second normally-closed valve controlling flow of compressed air to said second device and connected to said compressed air source, means controlled by the first air-operated device to automatically operate the second valve when the pressing members approach proximity, and a second manual controller controlling flow of compressed air between said source and the second device.

4. In an air-operated pressing machine according to claim 3, means normally biasing the movable pressing member in a direction to separate the pressing members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 22,041 Raynolds Feb. 24, 1942 1,954,988 Davis Apr. 17, 1934 1,974,264 Daly -a Sept. 18, 1934 2,028,379 Davis Jan, 21, 1936 2,116,143 Dewey May 3, 1938 2,367,102 Davis Ian. 9, 1945 1 Mamm 

